


Some Things Never Change

by Kika988



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Garrison shenanigans, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-S7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 23:03:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18040772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kika988/pseuds/Kika988
Summary: "Let me get this straight," Matt said slowly. "You're in denial about Keith being in love with you because he didn't word something properly while your evil clone wasactively trying to kill him?" Shiro shot him a warning look, but Matt had never really been one to pay those much heed, so he pressed on. "You might fool everyone else, but I've known you too long. The way you look at him now, that's not how you looked at him back when he was a cadet," he said, jabbing a finger in the middle of Shiro's chest.The gang reminisces, Pidge says too much, and Shiro gets a talking-to. Keith just wants to recover from his embarrassment in peace, but he rarely gets what he wants -- until he does.





	Some Things Never Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tookbaggins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tookbaggins/gifts).



> Sliding in once again at the last minute, here's my offering for the Shiro birthday exchange! My lovely recipient requested something funny or fluffy and mentioned she liked the Garrison Trio, so hopefully this fits the bill. I hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks to my drifty and [perfectlyrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose) for beta reading this for me!

"...and then he told the Commander, with a perfectly straight face, that it was all part of a survival project for a class, and the officer fucking _believed_ him!" Matt cackled, while Shiro hid his face in his hands.

"You're destroying all my credibility here, Matt," Shiro groaned, slouched on the couch next to Keith. The paladins were enjoying their first dinner all together since their release from the hospital, and Matt had been invited along as well. They were all sprawled around the living room of Shiro's quarters, empty takeout boxes from the Atlas's mess hall piled up on the coffee table. The space wolf was sprawled across Keith and Shiro's laps, his tail occasionally thumping on Shiro's thigh.

Lance was snickering into his drink, eating every bit of this up. "Please, _please_ keep going," he begged. "Who would have thought the Garrison's golden boy got up to that kind of stuff?"

"It is a bit difficult to picture," Allura admitted.

"He worked hard," Keith spoke up, coming to Shiro's defense. "He just also… played hard," he added, grinning over at Shiro. 

"You're one to talk," Matt said, pointing a finger across the table at Keith. "You got into more trouble than Shiro and I combined." 

"You mean I got _caught_ more often," Keith shot back. 

Matt shrugged. "Same difference." 

"You were both nothing but trouble and I just got dragged along for the ride," Shiro announced, trying to save face. Matt and Keith rounded on him as one, and he knew that wasn't going to fly, even a little bit. Pidge snickered -- she'd heard enough of these stories growing up to know the truth of it. 

"Right, you're the picture of innocence, Mr. Drove-a-hoverbike-off-a-cliff-with-no-warning," Keith said, raising an eyebrow. 

"And wasn't it you who instigated the whole Rolling Chair Incident?" Matt asked, the capitalized words evident in his speech. 

"Oh my god, that was _you_?" Hunk gasped. "Lieutenant O'Neill still didn't trust rolling chairs by the time I was in his class."

"He was grading projects unfairly," Shiro said, shrugging in his defense. "Someone had to take him down a peg or two." 

"Well, at least you still had your sense of justice," Allura teased gently. 

Keith laughed a little, nudging Shiro with his shoulder. "That and his workout regimen -- some things never change." 

"Though that worked out pretty well for him," Matt said, gesturing at Shiro as if that explained everything. Shiro flushed red as there was a general murmur of agreement among the group. 

"You _are_ a lot buffer now than you looked on your recruitment posters," Lance said, considering. 

"He couldn't even fit in his old clothes when he got back to Earth," Keith said, grinning as Shiro shot him a _look_. "That outfit he wore most of the time in the Castle was my dad's old stuff." 

"Oh, are we to the Complimenting Shiro part of the evening?" Matt said, laughing as Shiro tried his best to reach over Keith to shove Matt off the couch. "Keith's favorite!" He let out a squawk of indignation as Keith suddenly shifted from being a buffer between Shiro and Matt to actively helping Shiro shove him off the couch. The wolf gave a huff of indignation as he hopped down, disturbed by all the movement. "What? It _is_!" he insisted from the floor. "Come on, buddy, your teenage crush on Shiro was as obvious as it was adorable." 

Pidge snorted from the kitchenette, where she'd been throwing away everyone's take-out boxes. She couldn't see Keith from where she stood, couldn't see how he'd frozen and flushed red at Matt's words, or else she possibly would have been able to read the room a little better and hold back her next comment. "Yeah, well. Like Keith said, some things never change." 

The change in the atmosphere of the room was immediate; Keith went from flushed red to pale in the space of a breath, and the other paladins exchanged looks over his head, where he was still bent over Matt on the floor. 

"Hey, Keith," Matt said quietly, "I'm sorry, I didn't-" 

"It's fine," Keith said shortly. "I'm just gonna…" He stumbled as he got up, stepping over Matt. "Uh. Early training tomorrow and all. We should all turn in soon," he said in what might have been an authoritative tone if it hadn't trembled just a bit on the end. 

"Keith-" Shiro started, but it was too late; the wolf had perked up at the first sign of Keith's distress, and it took only a second for Keith to bury a hand his his scruff and disappear. 

There was an awkward silence in the room for a few beats before Allura spoke up. "Keith's right, we should probably get some rest," she said carefully. Lance looked as if he might protest, but she shot him a look and he snapped his mouth shut. In a matter of minutes, everyone had cleared out except for a sheepish-looking Matt and an obviously confused Shiro. 

"What just happened?" Shiro said, frowning at the suddenly empty room. 

"Uh. Katie and I accidentally made things really awkward between you and Keith for a while?" Matt offered up, cringing a bit. "I'm sorry, Shiro, I didn't expect anyone to take it that far… though I probably shouldn't have said what I did to begin with," he admitted. 

"Yeah, probably," Shiro agreed. "I mean, no one likes being teased about their teenage crushes, and even I knew about that one. But why did he get so upset about what Pidge said? He obviously doesn't feel that way anymore." His face was carefully blank as he spoke, but Matt had known him too long for that to matter. 

"Oh, Shiro, buddy," Matt said. "You have to know." At Shiro's blank look, he pressed on. "The kid flung himself across the universe alone on the _slim_ chance that he could save your evil clone," he said bluntly. 

"He's not a kid," Shiro said, frowning. 

"Right, because of course that's the important part of that sentence," Matt replied, flinging his hands up in exasperation. "Dude, he never outgrew his crush. Wait, no," he decided, "He did. It's not anything as simple as a crush anymore. He's in love with you." 

"No," Shiro replied sharply. "He's not." Matt raised his brows, and Shiro sighed, sinking back down onto the couch. " _You're my brother_. That's what he said while we were fighting-- er, while he was fighting the clone," Shiro said. "And that's fine," he insisted. "That's… to mean that much to him, that's more than I could ever ask for." He didn't quite meet Matt's eyes as he spoke, but it was obvious he genuinely meant what he said. 

"Let me get this straight," Matt said slowly. "You're in denial about Keith being in love with you because he didn't word something properly while your evil clone was _actively trying to kill him_?" Shiro shot him a warning look, but Matt had never really been one to pay those much heed, so he pressed on. "You might fool everyone else, but I've known you too long. The way you look at him now, that's not how you looked at him back when he was a cadet," he said, jabbing a finger in the middle of Shiro's chest. 

"Of course not," Shiro replied defensively. "He's changed, we've all changed. He's a leader now, the Black Paladin, and-"

"And that'd send your competency kink screaming even if it _wasn't_ someone you were already in love with," Matt said. Shiro's mouth snapped shut as he flushed red. Matt sighed. "Look, Shiro, I get why you might not have wanted to say anything while we were all in space, but we're kind of enjoying a break right now. Doesn't that make it a good time to discuss things?" 

Shiro was quiet for a long moment before responding. "What if you're wrong, though? I can't lose him over this. I'd rather have his trust, his friendship, than nothing." 

Matt smiled, reaching out to squeeze Shiro's shoulder. "Why do you think _Keith_ hasn't said anything yet? He's probably worried about the exact same thing. Though honestly, you're both idiots to think that would be enough to break you apart at this point." 

"I feel like I should be offended by that," Shiro said with a wry smile. 

"Probably," Matt agreed cheerfully. "But that's something you can figure out after you go talk to Keith, yeah? He's probably next door moping so hard he's freaking the wolf out." 

"...yeah, okay," Shiro said, blowing out a long breath. He stood, then hauled Matt up off the couch and into a bone-crushing hug. "Just know you're going to be dealing with me being miserable and him being weirded out if this goes poorly." 

"The only thing I'm going to be dealing with is less to commiserate with Pidge over once you two aren't pining over each other anymore," Matt said with complete certainty as he returned the embrace. "But yeah, you know I'm here if you need me."

* * *

The wait outside of Keith's door for him to answer felt like the longest twenty seconds of Shiro's life, which was really saying something, all things considered. His prints were coded to the digital lock on the door, not that it mattered since Atlas would let him into anywhere on the ship he wanted to be anyway, but it felt wrong to just walk in after what had happened. 

When the door finally slid open, Keith didn't look at all surprised to see him. In fact, his face was very carefully blank of any emotion, despite smiling blandly out at Shiro. 

"Hey," Keith said, his voice carefully neutral. "Everything okay?" 

"I'm thinking I should be the one asking that," Shiro replied. "You left in a hurry earlier. Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah, fine," Keith said with a reassuring smile. "Just noticed it was getting late, is all." 

"Mm," Shiro said, nodding. "Right. It was just that, and not what Matt and Pidge said?" 

Keith's expression shuttered. "They were just joking around, you know how-" 

"Keith," Shiro interrupted. "Can we just- can I come in? Please?" Keith hesitated just a moment before nodding and stepping aside, leading the way into his quarters. They weren't quite as large as Shiro's, but they were still the largest of the paladins', and certainly larger than any of the regular crew members' quarters. As they entered, the wolf raised his head from where he was curled up on the floor, thumped his tail twice when he saw Shiro, then settled down again. Shiro moved to the couch and Keith followed suit, tucking himself back into a corner and pulling his legs up to cross on the cushion in front of him. 

"I'm really fine," Keith assured him. "I wasn't like, offended or anything. I mean, I _was_ pretty obvious when I was 17," he said with a cringe. 

Shiro huffed out a laugh. "A little," he agreed. "It was flattering, though." He hesitated. "Can I ask you something?" 

Keith's brow furrowed at the question. "Yeah, sure. Anything."

Shiro nodded, pressing his lips together into a thin line for a moment before proceeding carefully. "Just… I hope you know you can answer honestly, and I'm not going to be upset with you either way." Keith took a deep breath and nodded; Shiro had a feeling he knew what was coming. "What Katie said -- is that true? Do you still feel that way?" There was a long pause.

"No," Keith finally said. Shiro felt his heart plummet to somewhere around his feet as he struggled to keep a straight face. 

"Okay," Shiro said, proud of how steady his voice came out, though he couldn't quite meet Keith's eyes as he spoke. "Okay, that's-"

"I'm not done," Keith said firmly. Shiro looked up in surprise. Keith's face was set in the stubborn lines that usually meant he was about to do something either stupid or brave -- an expression he'd seen often before they got into some of the trouble Matt had been talking about earlier. "Back then it was just a stupid crush. I was a kid, and you were… a dream," he said, his lips curling in a small smile. "It was honestly hero worship, more than anything. You were larger than life. It seemed like you had the perfect life -- piloting missions to space, the perfect relationship, charming everyone you came into contact with. I got to know you better after that, saw the giant dork you are under all that perfection, but by then the crush was hard to shake," he admitted with a grin. 

"You said you did, though," Shiro pointed out, wondering why Keith was drawing this out so much. Could he go mourn in peace yet?

"Yeah," Keith agreed, and Shiro's heart gave a painful thump from somewhere near the floor. "Because… because I'm not a kid anymore," Keith said slowly. "I know who I am, and I know who _you_ are. You're not perfect. You're stubborn and you sing show tunes off-key and you push yourself too hard. You snore and sometimes your mouth gets ahead of your brain, and you wear the same pair of socks like three days in a row so your boots smell like roadkill." He held up a hand as Shiro opened his mouth to protest. "Dude, don't even, I spend enough time in your room to know you still do that." 

"Okay, fine," Shiro huffed. "If you're done naming all my flaws, I'm going to-" 

"Still not done," Keith said, his tone calm even as Shiro couldn't help but notice the slightly wild look in his eyes. "Because my point is, it's not a crush, not hero worship anymore. I _know you_ now, so I love you." 

It took a second for the words to sink in, and when they did, Shiro kept his face carefully blank. 

"You said that before," he said. "When you were fighting the clone. You said I'm your brother, which… that means a lot to me, Keith, and I lo-" 

"No," Keith shook his head, then paused, laughing at himself. "Shit, I'm really doing this," he said, almost under his breath, before looking back up at Shiro. "I was panicking and couldn't find the words I needed, then," he said, meeting Shiro's eyes evenly. "You _are_ my brother, yeah. And my mentor, and my best friend, and… and the man I'm in love with," he said, his voice wavering only a bit. "You're _everything_ , Shiro. That's what I meant. And I get that you don't feel that way, but you asked so I needed to-" 

Keith wasn't able to finish his sentence before Shiro had heaved himself across the couch and dragged him into a kiss -- hurried and messy and with no finesse or control, but perfect nonetheless. When they broke apart they were both a bit wide-eyed, and there was a beat of silence as they stared at each other before they were laughing. 

"I guess I owe Matt a thank-you for convincing me to come over here to talk to you," Shiro admitted once they'd fallen quiet again. He had the fingers of his left hand tangled with Keith's while his right hand rested on Keith's knee, as if he couldn't stop touching him. "I was scared I'd say the wrong thing and scare you off, but I should have known you'd more than meet me in the middle," he said with a soft smile. 

Keith raised a shoulder in a shrug, but a smile played over his lips. "You asked for honesty, and I've never been good at telling you no." 

"That used to get you in trouble all the time," Shiro pointed out. "Probably is now, too." Keith smirked, and oh, Shiro might never get used to that. 

"I've gotten pretty good at handling trouble," Keith said confidently, the sweep of his gaze telling Shiro in no uncertain terms he was thinking about handling something else entirely right now. 

"That you have," Shiro agreed, grinning. "I love you too, you know," he added, almost casually, and suddenly Keith's lips were on his again, soft and demanding and giving all at once. 

The next day, Matt found a fruit basket waiting for him in his quarters. Well, the basket was an old battered helmet and half the fruit was actually possibly alien vegetables, but Earth was still recovering, so he appreciated the effort nonetheless. The card simply read ' _Thanks -the idiots_ ' in Shiro's blocky handwriting.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/B1ackPa1adins) if you ever want to scream about these two precious boys!


End file.
